For the first time in a decade, Framingham are kings of the pool.
The Framingham Flyers won the Boys Swimming South Sectionals with 200 points, their first sectional title since 2015. The Flyers topped the field at MIT’s Zesiger pool, ahead of Newton North (183) and Xaverian (161).
Framingham won the meet with a balanced performance despite a relatively small roster, with just 13 swimmers and one diver. Brandon Liu earned the team’s only race victory in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 57.82 and placed second in the 50 yard freestyle with a 21.69, Liu also contributed to Framingham’s second place finish in the 200 yard medley relay and their third place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
“The kids worked hard. They knew they had something special coming into the season and they aimed for this all year long,” said Framingham coach Ron Pereira.
Framingham opened the meet with a second place finish (1:39.79) in the 200 yard medley relay, losing to Franklin by just .03 seconds. Abhi Bangari’s eight place finish in the 200 yard freestyle and Elijah Ginzburg’s fifth place finish in the 200 yard IM gave Framingham a narrow 62-59 lead over second place Franklin. From there, the Flyers continued to cultivate their lead and managed to hold on for the victory despite a late surge from Newton North and Xaverian.
“We told every kid going up: we’re in first, let’s keep it there. Swim your race, trust your training, trust your coaches. We worked on all the mistakes. You’ve corrected everything. You know what you need to do. Just do it.” said Pereira on his team’s enduring message throughout the meet, “They’re a great group of kids. They listen, they work and they’re a pleasure to coach.”
While Framingham proved they were the best team of the meet, Xaverian’s Will Mulgrew was certainly the standout individual swimmer.
Mulgrew started the meet strong with a victory in the 200 yard freestyle, besting rival Nicholas Cavic of Seekonk (1:40.24). Mulgrew finished with 1:39.69, breaking a meet record (1:39.98 by Jack Maron in 2024) and surpassing an All-American consideration time (1:39.81).
“I came in knowing I was racing Nick Cavic in the two-free, so that was very exciting. We’ve raced in the past and it’s always been fun, good races so coming in knowing I got him right next to me was really good,” said Mulgrew.
Later in the 500 yard freestyle, Mulgrew stunned the crowd, winning the race with a 4:27.84.The finish broke Eric Vendt’s meet record of 4:31.92 from 1999 and surpassed the All American automatic time of 4:28.60.
“In the five-free, I came in trying to see what I could do,” said Mulgrew. “I was able to push that second half, which is how I usually like to swim these races. I felt good going into the halfway mark and just tried to bring it home as fast as I could.”
Other notables from the meet included Newton North’s Quinn Caputo who won the 200 yard IM with a 1:51.29, breaking Jared Daigle’s 2017 meet record time of 1:52.03 and Needham’s Vann Hotchkiss who won the 1 meter dive with 581.85 points, breaking his own meet record of 572.05 from last year.